Never judge a plumber on looks alone

Kurt Nilsen is a plumber and father of two from Bergen, the second-largest city in Norway after Oslo. He's chubby, gap-toothed and was last week told by a World Idol judge that he looked like a hobbit.

Nilsen, 24, silenced his critics by scoring 106 out of a possible 112 points. He finished nine points ahead of the favourite, American starlet Kelly Clarkson. Behind her came Belgium's Peter Evrard, South African Heinz Winckler, Britain's Will Young, Canadian Ryan Malcolm, and then our Guy Sebastian.

Although ratings for yesterday's Results program, which was screened live from London on Channel Ten at 6.30am and repeated at 7.30pm, were not available last night, the performance component, on Boxing Day, attracted 2.4 million Australian viewers.

Nilsen, sandy-haired and dressed in a denim jacket and jeans, sang a passionate version of U2's Beautiful Day. A proud Berit Stensrud, an attache at the Norwegian embassy in Canberra, said Nilsen would return home a national hero. "We are a small country, just 4½ million people," Ms Stensrud said. "It's not so often we win a big international competition like this one, especially in pop music." Ms Stensrud said she was not surprised that Nilsen won. "I think he won because he had the best voice," she said. "He looks to me like a nice guy. Maybe not the prettiest, but nice."

The World Idol finals combined the bloodthirsty thrills of a gladiator contest with the kitsch of Eurovision. The first singer, Germany's Alexander Klaws, chose a 1980s song, Maniac, from the movie Flashdance, but failed to sing in tune.

Contestant two, Diana Karzon, from Jordan, had the judges stumped when she sang a love song in Arabic. They praised her beautiful voice, but ruled her out. So much for the equality of nations.

Belgium's Kurt Cobain clone, Peter Evrard, scored points with me for lashing out at the judges who called him unoriginal. Who was British judge Pete Waterman - who churned out disco pop for Kylie Minogue - to say that?

Canadian idol Ryan Malcolm sang a splendid version of the Hollies' He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother but was dismissed by vicious US judge Simon Cowen as having a "sort of quirky personality, but so what?"

Clarkson already has a worldwide hit with her song Miss Independent. Her piece, You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, was stage-managed to within an inch of its life.

Guy Sebastian lit up the stage with his great big smile and that white suit. And the judges loved him. But Nilsen was the much-deserved winner. Because, as an Australian, I couldn't vote for Sebastian, I voted for Nilsen, too.